Beautiful Mas in Provence

Haven't posted for a while - it kinda slipped my mind due to all kinds of fun distractions. But that doesn't mean I didn't work...

This one was for a client of my lovely friend Elayne Murphy. She sold this lovely Provençale old original dry stone 'mas'. And gave an aquarelle painting to the new owners at the signing of the 'acte authentique'

Country house in Sablet, Vaucluse

Villa Floravine

My latest house painting was a commission for an aquarelle of a luxury country house (or 'mas' in French), built from dry stone and situated in Sablet in the Vaucluse (Provence).  Painting it, I fell in love with the character of the house itself, the cypres trees, the terraces, the pool and the overall sunny outlook of the place!

The making of the painting 

The house is large but intimate, carefully restored and fully equipped with modern amenities. And the good news: it is a holiday home rental! During your holiday in the Provence you can enjoy the sun and the tremendous atmosphere of the house, with its own vineyard...

 

If you are interested, there's more information on luxury vacation villa Floravine in the south of France

A modern house in Valbonne

As the start of a well-filled last quarter I painted the house of a lovely retired couple. They actually "won" this painting as a prize in a lottery - and I loved doing that, it got me started again!

The sky (the only thing that still, after all those years, goes wrong sometimes), the drawing and then starting a small part of the painting - to get a feel for the colours, the shapes, the character of the house...

Very important, the name of the house - Somalo - (Sophie Marie Louise) the owner welded the letters himself, so it has to look like the real thing! Same goes for another sculpture on the wall...

There it is, in the middle (click on the painting to enlarge it). I also added some flowerpots and furniture, and a lot of foliage.

The grass, the lower stone wall (pool below but they didn't want it in their picture) and I've reached the other side...

The finishing touches - and another one done! I hope they like it - I'll be working on the next one, a lovely villa in the Var...

Villa in Opio

 House in Opio by Marina Kulik

This lovely house was painted for a birthday, as a memory present for the former owner of this house!

House in Grasse

Just finished another aquarelle of a house, in Grasse...Thought I'd post about it so the owners who commissioned it can have a look at the end product... They'll return to France in 2 months and are interested what I manufactured of course... I made a little movie "the making of" for them too but can't seem to find a way to post that, I know it is possible but have no time to dive into it as I am traveling to my home country Holland for a short holiday!!! So that will have to wait...

Anyway, here it is: A lovely, sunny villa with lots of olive trees, a terrific pool and a flat garden to die for!!

Sunny Villa in Chateauneuf de Grasse

OK - so it has been silent for over a month, but I'm going to make up for that by a couple of posts because I have been painting like crazy and some of that work was on houses! The first one was a commission of RHF International Prestige Properties. They comissioned a painting of a beautiful, sunny villa in Chateauneuf de Grasse. I worked from a couple of pictures (this is given away by the flowers and lavender - not really there in February...) and here is how it was built up:

I started with the overall drawing, concentrating on the perspective, not easy with the "rounded" poolside wall and the fence (a one-hair-brush challenge...). Then the first wash, with the basic colours. Still a bit soft, as you can still see in the above picture, in the pool. To keep myself happy (and because I am quite confdent) I add details and effects in some parts and then move on to another part.

 

As you may know, if you make a big mistake in aquarelle you 'll have to start all over again! Be careful, as it would be such a shame to make that mistake if you already put a lot of hours in...

That is why I always start with my weak point: the sky!

...The basic wash for the trees in the background, leaving out the white chairs for a sunny effect (you don't use white in aquarelle, your lightest colour is the color of the paper)...

...widened the pool (oops - that's the disadvantage of working from a picture, in this case a wide-angle one)...

.... darkened the shadows, added more contrast for a sunny effect and finished the trees - and there you have the result! The sunny happy house RHF sold to the lucky new owners!

Winter in Chateauneuf

An absolutely gorgeous aquarelle of the village, by Marina Teding van Berkhout, colleague - and aquarellista like me! She used salt for the mysterious "icey" effects.

The painting can be admired until 19 December in the Salle du Pontis in Chateauneuf village...

View on Saint Tropez

See here (click for "the big picture") the result of meticulous work with "one-hair brushes" of aquarellista Cathy van der Stel and myself. A commission from my real-estate husband, who sold this capital villa in "Saint Trop"... and wants to give the owner a beautiful memory. And the owner - the thing he liked best about the house was the view...so that's why we painted that for him. He will receive it upon signature at the notary, very soon!

My good friends Bill and Carole Lomas, who have a real estate firm "Maison 2", sold a wonderful 3-bedroom property in Seillans, a village in the Var... With a stunning view.

They asked me to do a painting, of the house itself, so I started a 70 X 50 cm aquarelle, on my favourite mouldmade Arche "torchon" (rough grain) 300 grams watercolour paper

I always start with the parts that I like best, and often they are the windows and doors, because there's "mystery" behind them! In this case, a nice, light and happy atmosphere...

Slowly working on the rest of the house - and while I am painting, my appreciation for the house grows and grows So that, after I'm finished I so want to be and stay there... but of course I can't - the new owners of the house are the lucky guys and I am pretty sure they'll be totally happy out there!

There were two more views, related to the house that were tempting to do:

The view and the terrace...

Saint Clair

This is a view on the bay of St Clair, a village in the Var, between Rayol Canadel and Bormes-les-Mimosas. And (to give you an idea of the location if you are not too familiar with our region - the Riviera) pretty close to Saint Tropez. Anyway, I made the above aquarelle for the people who sold this house with its stunning view and a similar one for its lucky new owners. The house itself wasn't that special but imagine sitting on your balcony looking at that view....! Pure bliss... I loved creating the painting and did my best on the island (one of the Porquerolles) that you see on the horizon - as we have sailed there quite a lot and I have very fond memories of it!

Moulin de la Brague

This is one of the first houses I ever painted, in aquarelle on handmade paper, for my husband who sells houses for a living. He gives away a painting for every house he sells and of course his clients are delighted with a present like that. Lasts longer than a bottle of champagne or flowers... I think I made it some 5 years ago and the funny thing is that the house is back on the market! Check this link for more info...So if he sells it I'll have a new go at it - and I would love to do it once more, from another angle. It is a lovely and actually very impressive house, completely surrounded by nature, yet 3 minutes walking from the old, active center of the popular South French village Valbonne...